February 28

Well the boy seems to like sleeping curled and snuggled up on your chest ~ no crib for this boy! Here he is with Grandpa Bob and with his Papa. Cripes he's long.

Ahhh new babies, don't they smell delicious? I enjoyed a cuddle with Xavier before work today. Unfortunately I didn't get back to the hospital for another cuddle today but there's always tomorrow. Sheila joined us for dinner last night, was nice to spend time with her. Of course I have more Xavier pics, so will add them in for today.

February 26

Today my great big beautiful grandson was born. Gav & Lisa welcomed Xavier Shane into the world at 3.55 pm weighing a whopping 4.95 kgs or 10 lbs 14.5 oz. He was also a long lad measuring 57 cms. Todays pics are of Xavier.

Another dang headachy type day, only stayed at work a couple of hours. Had a snoozy afternoon and then met up with some ABA buddies for dinner at Sally's place. Hilary was up from Canberra for a visit and Mary and Lynn also came along. Was a nice night. Andrew, Sally's husband, is still in hospital, but he wanted her to have a night off and spend some time with friends.

Lisa is in hospital tonight, they put some come on baby gel in and are waiting for it to do it's thing. Sometime tomorrow I'll have a grandson!

Bob took a beautiful sunrise type pic so I'm going to add that one in and I've added how I sometimes feel.

February 24

I took my camera to work today ~ I'd noticed some flowers that were screaming out to have their pics taken! Very tired today for some reason so gave pottery a miss tonight (I can catch up another night) and have had a quiet night instead. Spoke with Lisa earlier and it seems she's in early labour! Bambino will be here before the week is out ~ how excitement!!

February 23

A huge day at work today. Came home to the smell of a delicious baked dinner ~ Bob has this week off work and spent the arvo in the kitchen. Gav & Lisa came over for dinner too. Too tired for a long post tonight, so just a shorty with a lovely pic of Gav n Lisa. Bambino is due in 3 days time.

February 22

Had a nice quietish day ~ did a little grocery shopping for tonight, did a little crafty stuff (a book made from brown paper bags), spent some time in the hammock, took some random pics from about the place, had a drink with the neighbours aboard their boat, and had a delicious roast dinner tonight. All the family, except Gav & Lisa were here.

Today's pic/pics (I can't decide again!) are of my favourite-ist gift ever ~ the hammock my sister brought me back from Thailand, some frangipani's in the garden and one of Tiara and Josh in the hammock.

February 21

We bought Nick & Jess a housewarming gift of a couple of pedestal fans today. Will see them through until they decide whether they are getting air conditioning or not.

Josh had a few friends over for his birthday this afternoon, among them Kerrie and Roger. Was great to see them and catch up again. Must do so more often!

Boys have all gone out tonight, so we've enjoyed a delicious dinner and are going to watch a movie soon.

Today's pic is of a postcard I got a little while ago. It's one of my favourites and I now have it pinned to the shelf on my desk. I would LOVE a kombi like this!

February 20

Spent yesterday with Bob getting police pics taken and giving a statement at his workplace. He's still feeling very headachy and somewhat sore n sorry.

Nick N Jess picked up the keys to their new place ~ I'm so proud of them! And they are so excited at having bought their first home. We saw them last night and Jess pointed out that at the same time next year, they would also be married as it's exactly a year until their wedding.

Today's pic (or yesterdays seeing as I'm a day late posting this) is of this morning's sunrise. Isn't it beautiful?

February 19

Josh turned 23 today. Didn't get to see a lot of him, but he was wearing the clothes we gave him when I got home and was planning to try out his new electric shaver soon. He went out for dinner with his girlfriend Sarah.

Went back to work today but was very tired most of the day. Ah well, such is life. Planned to take off early but it didn't happen that way.

Bob was assaulted at work this afternoon, so we spent a few hours at the hospital until he was fixed up. He has 4 stitches above his eye, he's going to be sporting a purty shiner tomorrow, he has a nasty headache, cuts inside his mouth, plenty of facial bruising and a very bruised shoulder and neck. The doc has sent him home with some heavy duty painkillers to help him sleep.

Today's pic is of a storm rolling in. It was bucketing down rain when I took this pic.

February 18

Ended up having another day off today. Sick of feeling tired, unwell & run down. Gotta love hormonal changes! Not. Ah well, enough whinging. Going back to work tomorrow. It rained a lot of the day today, so inbetween snoozes, I did a little artwork for the e-course I've been doing. I'm a little behind (seems to be the story of my life lately!) and this is the Week 4 assignment.

February 17

Still felt yukko this morning, so didn't go to work today. Had a quiet day, couldn't help but think of Querida and her family today. Today is the day they say their final farewell to Rhys. Another short blog today and the pic is of the candles I had burning for Rhys. I didn't have them standing together like that in the pic, they were in different parts of the house ~ I just put them together for the pic.

February 16

Back to work again today. My how the weekend flies! Ended up with a massive headache late today, still feeling pretty doughy with it, so not much of a blog tonight. Today's pics are of the mess I made last night.

February 15

Oooops, I missed a day! Dagnabbit. Yesterday ~ hmm, I spent much of the day cooking up a feast for last night's dinner with a small break mid afternoon for a kayak. We celebrated Josh's upcoming birthday and Phil's just gone birthday. We had the whole family here for dinner, including P & J plus my friend Loraine who I work with. A great night! And then we did another last minute belly cast of Lisa ~ the very last one!! Baby is due in 10 days time, so not long now. Todays pic is of some pretty purple/green crabs we saw while out kayaking.

February 14

Ahh Valentine's Day. We had heart shaped chicken schnitzels for breakfast with poached eggs and delicious mushrooms. It was raining steadily for much of the day, so we shelved our original plans for a day trip up to Mt Tamborine and had a wander around Harbourtown on the Gold Coast instead. Picked up some lurvely shoes, a cute pair of dunlop volleys for the new bambino, and a birthday pressie for Josh. We also had a drink and raised a toast to Rhys, as he would have turned 20 today. Then to finish off the day, we went to a Thai restaurant in Ormiston. Absolutely yummylicious! Will definitely be going back there! Today's pic is of a frangipani blossom that had fallen from a beautiful tree a few blocks away.

February 13

Friday the 13th! Thankfully a quieter day than the rest of the week. Went out for dinner tonight at the Thai restaurant in Wello Point with a couple of friends from college tonight. Had a great night, we finished up at a coffee shop up the road a bit. We always plan to catch up more often, hopefully this time we will. Couldn't sleep for some of the night, so I did a little more painting on the belly bowl and completed the outside. That's it for now.

February 12

A very sad day today. I came home to find that my friend Querida has lost her son. Rhys was killed in a car accident this morning on his way to work. There has been so much tragedy this week with fires in Victoria still burning, many people missing and a climbing death toll that currently stands at 181 but is expected to reach 300+. I hope next week is better.

Vale Rhys.

Todays pics are of a belly bowl I've been working on and of this evening's moon.

February 11

Received a phone call from Mardi this morning, so that was pretty spesh! She was telling me a little about things in Vic right now ~ so sad and so devastating. Had a reasonable day at work and got to finish a smidgeon early which is always nice. I won a double pass to an advance screening at the cinemas of He's Just Not That Into You. I had a girly night with Josh's Sarah who came with me ~ was a good movie and we both enjoyed it. That's it from me tonight.

February 10

Phil's 45th birthday today. We were all invited out for dinner, boys went but B was working and I had my first pottery class in over 6 mths, so they're joining us on Sunday night for dinner instead. And speaking of pottery, it was fantastic to be doing it again. I've really missed it.

Another little bit of fun type of excitement was winning a double pass to see the movie He's Just Not That Into You tomorrow night, so looking forward to that.

Hmm todays pic. Well I haven't taken any pics from today, instead I'm going to share a pic I took over the weekend. Will be back on track tomorrow!

February 9

Horrible days here in Oz at the moment. Many of us struggling to comprehend the worst disaster in Aussie history. Unspeakable and unfathomable devastation. It makes it hard to think about much else.

But trying to think of some good stuff as well, so here's today's pic ~ this evening's moon.

February 8

One can't help but feel for the many who have been affected by the extreme weather conditions being experienced in the eastern states of Australia right now. There is flooding in North Queensland and Victoria is experiencing what are now the worst bushfires in Australian history. The death toll is high and is still climbing, so there will no doubt be more to add to this tomorrow.

So what has been happening in my neck of the woods today? I watched a glorious sunrise this morning out on the water. Absolutely breath taking. I've also done some more painting and procrastinated so much that I've still not done any study! This evening the moon is beautiful ~ another two days until the full moon. So today's pics (yep, there's more than one ~ it's Sunday!) are of the sunrise and this evening's moon.

February 7

I want to know where Saturday went ~ it disappeared so dang fast!! Oh yeah, a trip to the art shop in the city, a trip to Bunnings hardware, got paged from work so had some time in there, and all of a sudden it was mid afternoon! Did a little painting on Lisa's bellycast, didn't do any study (oooops) and had dinner with some of the boys and their mates. Today's pic is of some of Josh's fish. King Leonitis is the yellow and black spotted cod looking fish, the bright greenish one hiding in the barrel thing in the middle hasn't yet been named but it's some type of reef fish and you can see Private Stripes (an angel type looking fish) swimming towards the top right hand side.

February 6

Enjoyed an early morning paddle again this morning and took a few pics along the way. They'll be today's post. In other goings ons, I caught up with my former neighbours and enjoyed a get together with them for a couple of hours this evening. It's been about 6 mths since the last time, so it was great to see them. And yay, it's Friday!!! V happy about that! Ok, now for the pics.

February 5

I was noticing last night that I seem to have mentioned work a lot in my posts, so today I'm not going to mention work. Well not apart from the little bit I just have! Found it a little hard to wake up properly this morning, so when we did manage to wake, we went for a paddle. I haven't been for about a week and each time I get in there after having a few days out, I think how much I thoroughly enjoy it and how much I've missed it on the days I don't go for whatever reason. Perhaps I need to try and get out early mornings rather than doing so in the afternoons, as the water is usually very calm then. So today's pic is one I took while we were paddling and the next one is one Bob took of me.

My one and only, favourite-est nephew Ry has his 13th birthday today. In other news, another full day at work and a quiet little panic session over when the deadline is for my study stuff ~ hopefully I can complete it all on time. Have another option if for some reason I don't get it done, but will involve another commitment so will have to give it some thought. I think I've finished painting a belly bowl, just have to get a stand for it and see if I like it enough to leave it as is. Today's pic is of a candle type lantern we have hanging outside.

February 3

Another biggish day at work today. I'm feeling a little freaked out about completing my TAFE course before the deadline. Hopefully it will all come together in time. Spent a little time this arvo after work catching up with my friend Kath. And speaking of work, I thought I'd share my little friend in today's pic. His name is Boris and he sits in my in tray at work.

February 2

Today was my friend Mardi's birthday ~ happy birthday gorgeous! Had a full day at work today, was glad to get home. Did a bellycast on Lisa tonight ~ the last one before baby arrives and one she actually gets to keep! Had a wander around the yard this afternoon and took some flower pics.

February 1

Daniel took us out in his new little boat today. He bought his boat earlier in the week and picked it up from his Dad's place on Saturday afternoon after getting his boat licence. So of course, he had to try it out as soon as possible. His boat is named Daffy. He wasn't too sure about the name but apparently it's bad luck to change a boat's name, so Daffy it is. This is one of the pics taken throughout the day.